No Junk Food for the Brain!

Do you sometimes ask yourself where the day has gone?

True, sometimes when we are really enjoying ourselves, the time flies by.

But all too often, we wonder where the time went because we have no idea how we spent it.

It’s like we keep filling our mind with “junk food ideas” that seem enticing, but are not really worth our time.

And so our days get filled with nonsensical pursuits.

Take the time to stop and think

How to occupy our mind is an age-old problem. Marcus Aurelius thought about it in his Meditations.

“From Diognetus: Not to waste time on nonsense. Not to be taken in by conjurers and hoodoo artists with their talk about incantations and exorcism and all the rest of it. Not to be obsessed with quail-fighting or other crazes like that. To hear unwelcome truths. To practice philosophy, and to study with Baccheius, and then with Tandasis and Marcianus. To write dialogues as a student. To choose the Greek lifestyle – the camp-bed and the cloak.” – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations I.6

You know what? It takes hard work and deep thought to discover the truth. To figure out how to make life meaningful.

Not a minute to waste

When you think about it, life is too precious to waste even a minute.

If we can mentally engage each moment, then we can make it count.

It’s a question of staying curious and not getting fooled by every fancy-schmancy gimmick that pops up.

You and I both know that there is a snake oil salesman on every corner looking to fool us.

So: how do we avoid the “conjurers and hoodoo artists?”

• Challenge the “experts.” Especially in this era of Internet thought leadership, anybody can hang up a shingle and call himself an expert.  But how did they get to know what they claim they know?
• Slick doesn’t always stick. The slickest websites and presentations often do not have any meaningful content.  They have razzle-dazzle, but where’s the beef?
• Sweettalk is not always what you need to hear. The best advice is often something you don’t want to hear but nonetheless is very relevant to your situation.  People who truly have your interest at heart will tell you what you must know to make a sound decision.

This is all too true when it comes to money

And it is double-true when it comes to life insurance.

Many people these days take much for granted, including their own mortality. It is hard to conceive that our days on this earth will be over – and can be over before we expect.

Financial representatives who sell life insurance will often try to dazzle consumers with projections of future values, guarantees, and rates of return.

But these displays can blind us to the fact that we never know when a claim on our life insurance will be paid – so it is prudent to assume it could be paid tomorrow.

That understanding should lead people to prioritize having sufficient coverage in force NOW.

How to sustain the brain

Good ideas are like good food: they not only satisfy your immediate hunger for information, but they nourish your goals and dreams.

To get past all the junk food that is thrown at our brains from all directions, we have to think past them.

We can about evaluate everything that comes our way and determine what value they have for us as aspiring human beings.

In doing so we make every moment count. Just as when evaluating every financial proposition, we can make every dollar count.

What about you? Are you making every moment count? Every dollar?

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